"Kid, leave yourself some leeway so we can meet again in the future — don't push too far!" Ju Tianqing was clenching his teeth so hard they were nearly cracking, his face twisted into a savage glare at Yang Kai.
Zu Hong saw this and also snarled, "That's right. Even if you've mastered spatial power, you're still just one man. If Ju and I join forces, we may well have the strength to fight you. And even if we truly can't beat you… you think we don't know how to self-detonate?"
Yang Kai curled his lip. "You talk like you'd actually get the chance."
As he spoke, his expression turned solemn. His hands moved swiftly through a series of seals, and one mysterious imprint after another crystallized in the air. An extremely eerie aura erupted and spread outward in a torrent.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Ju Tianqing's face drained of color. His instincts screamed that danger was about to descend, and he couldn't help but roar in fury.
Yang Kai's voice came out cold and sinister: "What am I doing? Why, I'm preparing to unleash my ultimate technique and wipe you both out, of course. To be honest with you, once I fire this off, you won't have the slightest chance to fight back — you'll be completely at my mercy. If you really want to self-detonate, I'd suggest you do it now, because once it's too late, you won't get another chance!"
Ju Tianqing and Zu Hong both drew in a sharp breath and stumbled backward.
Yang Kai said it with perfect composure, his face brimming with killing intent, and they were terrified. But self-detonation — who would actually go through with it unless they had absolutely no other choice? Most of the time it was nothing more than a verbal threat meant to deter the other side.
They never expected this kid to be completely unmoved and spouting nonsense about unleishing some ultimate technique…
But the seals he was forming were undeniably profound. Even with the cultivation of Zu Hong and Ju Tianqing, they couldn't see through the ruse. What they could be certain of was that this technique was no small matter.
"Brother Zu, let's fight him with everything we've got!" Ju Tianqing gritted his teeth, a look of grim resolve settling onto his face.
"Good!" Zu Hong knew there was no retreat. Yang Kai was pressing them relentlessly, looking for all the world like he intended to slaughter them both. If he and Ju Tianqing still held back, they would surely lose. The only path to survival was to go all in.
As they spoke, both of them surged their Emperor Yuan with savage force, their auras hissing and crackling with power.
Blood spurted continuously from the wound on Ju Tianqing's shoulder, driven out by the violent flow of energy. It was impossible to say how many liters he had lost — his face was pale as paper.
In the span of a breath, both of them had reached the absolute peak of their power.
Inside the Myriad Beast Seal, the roars of countless exotic beasts thundered. The Star Image Ocean-Burning Blade hummed without cease, its edge flickering in and out of visibility.
Yang Kai's hands suddenly paused. He pressed them slowly forward in a solemn, deliberate motion and intoned in a low voice: "The vast seas turn to mulberry fields, the years fly like a shuttle, grass and trees bloom and wither — all is but a dream, an illusion!"
Time seemed to freeze in that instant.
Rumble…
The Seal of Passing Years descended like a blazing sun, completely engulfing Ju Tianqing and Zu Hong. Both men's eyes went wide, and within them flickered visions of shifting ages, of oceans rising and receding — in that single moment, it was as though they had lived through countless millennia.
Their peak aura plummeted with the passage of those illusory years. The skin on their bodies aged rapidly, their blood and vital essence withered, and their hair turned white and thin.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them had gone from the pinnacle of their strength to decrepit old men, their eyes hollow and vacant, looking as though they might die at any moment.
The Divine Ability of the Time Emperor — it was connected to the Laws of Time. How could Ju Tianqing and Zu Hong, already gravely wounded, hope to withstand it? Back when Yang Kai was only at the third level of the Dao Source Realm, he had used this very technique against a soul-descent from a third-level Emperor. Now that he had become an Emperor himself, his strength was far greater than it had been that day.
In a single move, both of them had been stripped of all fighting power.
"Now get in here!" Yang Kai snorted coldly, and an eerie light blazed from his eyes. With a sweep of his divine sense, he pulled the two of them — now incapable of resistance — into his Small World.
Inside the Small World, the Dharma Body had been waiting with unconcealed impatience. The moment Yang Kai tossed the two of them in, it surged its power, reaching out with one hand to shroud them both. A savage roar erupted: "Heaven Devouring Battle Law!"
The fate awaiting Zu Hong and Ju Tianqing was nothing less than being drained into desiccated husks.
The stalled flow of time resumed, and the small world returned to tranquility.
Inside the herb garden's protective ward, Gao Xueting's beautiful eyes were filled with astonishment, and she was unable to come back to her senses for a long while.
The Seal of Passing Years had affected her too, to some degree, causing a momentary confusion in her thoughts. By the time she had recovered, Zu Hong and Ju Tianqing had both vanished without a trace.
All she saw was Yang Kai turning around and flying toward her.
Gao Xueting stared dumbfounded and reflexively lowered the ward.
The ward's mechanism was not complicated to operate — otherwise she wouldn't have been able to retreat inside it so quickly.
"Elder Gao, how are your injuries?!" Yang Kai arrived at her side and asked urgently.
Gao Xueting looked up at him, a complex expression crossing her delicate features. She studied him from head to toe, as though seeing him for the first time.
A few years ago, the gap between this young man's strength and her own had been enormous. But now, she truly needed to look up at him…
"Elder Gao…" Seeing that she remained silent, Yang Kai couldn't help but call out again.
Only then did Gao Xueting withdraw her gaze. She gave a light cough and said, "It's not minor, but nothing serious. I just need some rest and I'll be fine. Those two — did you beat them to dust?"
Even if they had been beaten to dust, there should have been some trace left. The two of them had simply vanished as though they had never existed.
"They're dead." Yang Kai grinned. "Don't worry about them, Elder Gao. Two pieces of trash — their deaths are no great loss."
Gao Xueting nodded, finally at ease, and sighed with some emotion: "You've grown a great deal — far more than even the adults had anticipated."